


A Very Spooky Birthday

by Falt



Category: L.A. By Night, Vampire: The Masquerade
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Fluff, Friendship, LA by Night Fic Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 20:40:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19483612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falt/pseuds/Falt
Summary: Prompt: Eva and Annabelle find out Jasper's birthday and throw him a surprise party (Jasper style)





	A Very Spooky Birthday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [life_unsolved](https://archiveofourown.org/users/life_unsolved/gifts).



> This exchange was so fun!! I had a great time writing this. Hope you like it!

[7:33pm] I’ve never actually been to your haven before, come and get me? <3

Annabelle finished sending the text and leaned against the stone wall at the back of the Observatory, looking about the surrounding area at the falling leaves in the cool autumn air. The sun had only just gone down; she’d set out immediately for Eva’s upon waking. They had work to do. 

Suddenly Eva was in view, a vision in her usual white ensemble. She smiled warmly at Annabelle and greeted her.

“Jasper said he’d be here around ten, so we have plenty of time. He doesn’t suspect a thing; I told him I’d help him with his ancient Greek,” Eva explained as she led Annabelle through a back-access door and down some creaky stairs.

There was a door in a hidden corner, clearly off the beaten track for maintenance and staff of the Observatory. The door to the haven itself was warded; all but the most perceptive mortals would likely walk past it without ever knowing it was there. Annabelle barely noticed it herself until Eva opened it and waved her through.

Eva’s haven was small but comfortable, surprisingly well-lit for a basement, filled with the warm yellow glow of lamps and fake candles. The door opened upon a small living room with plants and books all around, shelves upon shelves of tomes and novels alike, neatly organized by subject. The smell of incense wafted through the air, a pleasant but unintrusive scent. What looked like it was once a small kitchen sat in the corner, looking mostly untouched except for the materials Eva normally used for her rituals. Another door stood along the opposite wall, presumably leading to a bedroom.

“This is amazing,” Annabelle breathed, looking around the room as she set down her backpack, which was stuffed. “So cozy.”

Eva chuckled. “Thank you. I’m lucky to have it. Did you bring the decorations? I went out and picked up a few things, myself.” She gestured to the flowers she had picked specifically for the occasion, some roses the florist had died black, as well as tiger lilies and daisies. The good thing about autumn was that sunset finally overlapped with at least a few business’ working hours.

“Yes! They’re right here,” Annabelle replied, crouching down to unzip her backpack. She started to pull things from the bag, setting them neatly to the side. There were a variety of Halloween decorations she had ordered online throughout the following week; skeletons and black cats and pumpkins and ghosts and gravestones to hang on the walls and from the ceiling. There was a banner Annabelle had made by threading alternating orange and black letters on a string. There were a few plastic skeleton animals. Finally, there were some vintage black and white horror film posters— _Dracula_ , _Frankenstein,_ _Psycho_ , _Night of the Living Dead,_ and, of course, _Nosferatu_.

Annabelle also produced two rolls of tape, and they got to work decking out Eva’s apartment, covering the walls with the posters and hanging the others from the ceiling with the help of a chair. The banner went neatly along the wall where it could be seen immediately upon entering through the door. The plastic animal skeletons were placed neatly among the plants and stacks of books. After an hour, the room looked thoroughly ready for the best kind of cheesy Halloween party.

Annabelle was just finishing up the playlist, having scoured Jasper’s own Spotify lists to compile the perfect playlist for the night, when there were three small raps on the door. Grinning at Eva, she hit play. Soft piano music began to lilt through the apartment. Jasper was sure to be able to hear it from outside the door.

“Come in,” Eva called. “The door’s unlocked.”

Jasper turned the knob and let himself in, almost not noticing that anything was amiss until all at once it hit him.

“Surprise! Happy birthday!” Eva and Annabelle cried out in unison, huge grins across both of their faces.

He dropped his bag, face unreadable for a solid ten seconds, and Eva was worried that he might just pick his bag back up and leave. But before she can finish the thought, a smile creeped onto his lips and he shakes his head with a small laugh. “I should have known,” he admitted, looking around at the decorations. His eyes bounced from the hanging ghosts to the banner proclaiming “Happy Birthday” to the poster of _Nosferatu_ , shaking his head with a toothy grin.

“It’s pretty on-brand that your birthday is in October, gotta say,” Annabelle laughed, stepping forward to give him a hug, which he returned. “I found out the date when I looked up your obituary. After we first met. I hope you don’t mind. 

“Normally I would, but I’ll make an exception. Just this once.” He smiled amicably as they pulled away from each other. He turned to Eva, who stepped forward. She had one of the black roses from the bouquet in her hand, a straight pin neatly stuck through the shortened stem. She pinned it carefully to his jacket, near where the lapel would be if he was wearing a proper sport coat.

“Perfect,” she said softly, looking up at him with a warm smile. He returned it, carefully hugging her so as to not crush the flower.

“We’ll spare you the embarrassment of singing, at least,” she promised upon the release of their embrace, stepping back. “And I know you were looking forward to your Greek lesson, but we can pick that up later this week.” She winked, nearly imperceptibly.

“Victor and Nelli said they’re sorry they couldn’t make it, but they had a release scheduled for tonight. And we thought smaller would be better,” Annabelle interrupted. “They sent along gifts, though! You should open those now.” 

“I agree, let’s do gifts,” Eva nodded, leading the way to the small leather couch and comfortable upholstered armchair in the corner to the right of the doorway. She perched on one end of the couch while Annabelle sat in the armchair, leaving Jasper to sit on the opposite end of the couch.

“You guys really didn’t have to get me—"

“Nope, they’re already bought and I promise you’ll like them a lot.” Annabelle cut him off forcefully as she held out two packages, one quite small and another fairly large but also fairly light. “The smaller one is from Victor, and the other is from Nelli,” Annabelle explained.

He sighed but accepted the packages, deciding to open the smaller one first. It contained a large-faced watch with a black leather band, the face itself black with elegant silver numbers. It was entirely silent, with no ticking to be heard by Kindred and mortal alike.

The larger box contained a woolen winter coat, undoubtedly one of Nelli’s own creations. He pulled it from the box, looking it over. His initials were monogrammed where the tag would normally be, and the hood was oversized so that it would hide his face better, should he wish to go out in public during the winter without obfuscation.

He absolutely loved them both and made a note to thank Victor and Nelli each personally, sending quick texts in the meantime to let them know of his gratitude more immediately. Victor replied back with a friendly “No problem!”, and Nelli with her signature blue heart.

They were certainly some of the nicest gifts he’d ever received, and probably cost more than he could ever have hoped to afford. He strapped on the watch and neatly folded the jacket, suddenly becoming very aware of the way Eva and Annabelle were watching.

Eva’s soft laugh rang out at his expression, and she reached beside the couch to pull up a box, tied neatly with a ribbon. It was hefty, and she set it carefully onto his lap. “This is from me.”

The box contained a number of books, some from Eva’s own collection which she no longer needed, some that she’d picked up in second-hand shops specifically for him. Some were for Latin and ancient Greek, others contained material on the arcane, still others were general histories that Eva thought Jasper would be interested in. After looking through each of the titles in turn, he neatly arranged them back in the box.

“These are great. Thank you so much, Eva.” He grinned, unable to deny the warmth in his unbeating heart from all of these thoughtful gifts.

“Last one,” Annabelle said, holding out a slim envelope. “From me.”

Jasper used a fingernail to carefully lift the flap. It was a simple birthday card, containing three tickets. He set those aside for a moment, reading what was written on the inside.

_Jasper,_

_Happy birthday! I know you don’t like surprises, but thank you for getting far enough to open this card._

_You’re the best friend anyone could ask for. You’ve taught me so much, and I hope I can repay the favor. Obviously not in like, the Kindred sense. But you know._

_Anyway, I know you at least used to like horror movies. So I hope you like what I got you._

_Love,_

_Annabelle_

Jasper looked at the three tickets that he’d set aside.

“They’re movie tickets for tonight. They’re doing a midnight showing of that new horror movie that just came out. I reserved three front row tickets so we could all go and you could sit between us, that way no one would turn around and see you if you weren’t obfuscated or cross in front of you while you were and mess everything up. Campbell’s going to pick us up in a car in a bit,” Annabelle explained.

Jasper looked up, surprised. This was more than he’d expected, but he knew that she had thought it through. He hadn’t been to the movies in years. And while he knew Annabelle had no way of knowing, it had been a tradition of his to go and see whatever new horror film was out as part of his birthday each year. 

“Annabelle…” he began, shaking his head. “Thank you so much. This is perfect.” He stood and hugged each of them in turn, thinking about how lucky he was to have such a group of friends. Five years ago, he’d never thought this would be possible.

In the end, he didn’t have to obfuscate himself once they were in the theatre, sitting between Eva and Annabelle. Each rested their head on his shoulder, Eva’s hand slipping through his as the movie began.

As birthdays went, it was damn close to perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and gentle criticism are greatly appreciated. No, I don't think they went to see the new Annabelle film. How meta would that be?


End file.
